Word Meanings - QUAINT - Book Publishers vocabulary database

pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to know; con + noscere (for 1. Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. Clerks be full subtle and full quaint. Chaucer. 2. Characterized

Additional info about word: QUAINT

pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to know; con + noscere (for 1. Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. Clerks be full subtle and full quaint. Chaucer. 2. Characterized by ingenuity or art; finely fashioned; skillfully wrought; elegant; graceful; nice; neat. " The queynte ring." " His queynte spear." Chaucer. " A shepherd young quaint." Chapman. Every look was coy and wondrous quaint. Spenser. To show bow quaint an orator you are. Shak. 3. Curious and fanciful; affected; odd; whimsical; antique; archaic; singular; unusual; as, quaint architecture; a quaint expression. Some stroke of quaint yet simple pleasantry. Macaulay. An old, long-faced, long-bodied servant in quaint livery. W. Irving. Syn. -- Quaint, Odd, Antique. Antique is applied to that which has come down from the ancients, or which is made to imitate some ancient work of art. Odd implies disharmony, incongruity, or unevenness. An odd thing or person is an exception to general rules of calculation and procedure, or expectation and common experience. In the current use of quaint, the two ideas of odd and antique are combined, and the word is commonly applied to that which is pleasing by reason of both these qualities. Thus, we speak of the quaint architecture of many old buildings in London; or a quaint expression, uniting at once the antique and the fanciful.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of QUAINT)

• Antiquated
• By-gone
• quaint
• old-fashioned
• obsolete
• Fanciful
• Grotesque
• chimerical
• unreal
• imaginary
• eccentric
• freakish
• humorsome
• erroneous
• capricious
• whimsical
• erratic
• absurd
• fitful
• Whimsical
• old
• burlesque
• archaic
• caricatured
• distorted
• Odd
• Alone
• sole
• unmatched
• remaining
• over
• fragmentary
• uneven
• singular
• peculiar
• queer
• fantastical
• uncommon
• nondescript
• Primitive
• Old-fashioned
• primeval
• simple
• unsophisticated
• pristine

Related words: (words related to QUAINT)

• PECULIARIZE
  To make peculiar; to set appart or assign, as an exclusive possession. Dr. John Smith.
• UNCOMMON
  Not common; unusual; infrequent; rare; hence, remarkable; strange; as, an uncommon season; an uncommon degree of cold or heat; uncommon courage. Syn. -- Rare; scarce; infrequent; unwonted. -- Un*com"mon*ly, adv. -- Un*com"mon*ness, n.
• ECCENTRICITY
  The ratio of the distance between the center and the focus of an ellipse or hyperbola to its semi-transverse axis. (more info) 1. The state of being eccentric; deviation from the customary line of conduct; oddity.
• ANTIQUATION
  The act of making antiquated, or the state of being antiquated. Beaumont.
• PRIMITIVENESS
  The quality or state of being primitive; conformity to primitive style or practice.
• PRIMEVALLY
  In a primeval manner; in or from the earliest times; originally. Darwin.
• CAPRICIOUS
  Governed or characterized by caprice; apt to change suddenly; freakish; whimsical; changeable. "Capricious poet." Shak. "Capricious humor." Hugh Miller. A capricious partiality to the Romish practices. Hallam. Syn. -- Freakish; whimsical; fanciful;
• ECCENTRICALLY
  In an eccentric manner. Drove eccentrically here and there. Lew Wallace.
• FANTASTICALITY
  Fantastically.
• QUEERISH
  Rather queer; somewhat singular.
• OBSOLETENESS
  Indistinctness; want of development. (more info) 1. The state of being obsolete, or no longer used; a state of desuetude.
• ALONENESS
  A state of being alone, or without company; solitariness. Bp. Montagu.
• SINGULAR
  Existing by itself; single; individual. The idea which represents one . . . determinate thing, is called a singular idea, whether simple, complex, or compound. I. Watts. (more info) 1. Separate or apart from others; single; distinct. Bacon. And
• ANTIQUATED
  Grown old. Hence: Bygone; obsolete; out of use; old-fashioned; as, an antiquated law. "Antiquated words." Dryden. Old Janet, for so he understood his antiquated attendant was denominated. Sir W. Scott. Syn. -- Ancient; old; antique; obsolete. See
• PECULIARNESS
  The quality or state of being peculiar; peculiarity. Mede.
• ABSURDNESS
  Absurdity.
• CHIMERICAL
  Merely imaginary; fanciful; fantastic; wildly or vainly conceived; having, or capable of having, no existence except in thought; as, chimerical projects. Syn. -- Imaginary; fanciful; fantastic; wild; unfounded; vain; deceitful; delusive.
• ERRONEOUS
  1. Wandering; straying; deviating from the right course; -- hence, irregular; unnatural. "Erroneous circulation." Arbuthnot. Stopped much of the erroneous light, which otherwise would have disturbed the vision. Sir I. Newman. 2. Misleading;
• ECCENTRICAL
  See ECCENTRIC
• OBSOLETE
  Not very distinct; obscure; rudimental; imperfectly developed; abortive. Syn. -- Ancient; antiquated; old-fashioned; antique; old; disused; neglected. See Ancient. (more info) 1. No longer in use; gone into disuse; disused; neglected;
• IMAGINARY
  Existing only in imagination or fancy; not real; fancied; visionary; ideal. Wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer Imaginary ills and fancied tortures Addison. Imaginary calculus See under Calculus. -- Imaginary expression or quantity
• ACQUAINTANCE
  1. A state of being acquainted, or of having intimate, or more than slight or superficial, knowledge; personal knowledge gained by intercourse short of that of friendship or intimacy; as, I know the man; but have no acquaintance with him. Contract
• ACQUAINTED
  Personally known; familiar. See To be acquainted with, under Acquaint, v. t.
• DISACQUAINT
  To render unacquainted; to make unfamiliar. While my sick heart With dismal smart Is disacquainted never. Herrick.
• INACQUAINTANCE
  Want of acquaintance. Good.